which would you prefer to be in? A lower weight category or a higher one?

Asking this now that I am off meds and weight is frankly stripping off me. I've always been on the border or 90k for judo tournaments, and wondered in your style/sport for competition, what would you prefer?

I can imagine if I went heavier I'd have less people to fight in judo tournaments, but if I stripped down too much I'd feel quite weak by comparison.

Likewise, I can imagine some sports that are more striking based it might be more useful to be smaller.

Imho if you are close to the lower limit of a category, it's better to lose weight.
But if you are in the middle of a category, you lose too much strength if you try to lose weight.
This assumes that you are already close to you optimal weight, for a fatty like me it's obvious that I would have to lose 15-20 kg to be seriously competitive in anything.

Imho if you are close to the lower limit of a category, it's better to lose weight.
But if you are in the middle of a category, you lose too much strength if you try to lose weight.
This assumes that you are already close to you optimal weight, for a fatty like me it's obvious that I would have to lose 15-20 kg to be seriously competitive in anything.

Im personally unsure how low I could realistically go, I had to put on muscle to support my frame because Im quite broad and naturally I was always heavy even as a kid. I'd probably suffer losing 10kg of weight.

Depends on the judo tournaments. There often aren't enough guys for higher categories, so above 90 you are basically fighting open and can run into some huge people. -81 and -73 generally have the most people and a lot of them are very serious. So if you want the highest quality, highest number of opponents then try to get to 81 kg. If you feel like challenging your waza against a fat green belt, stay above 90. Locally, -90 usually has guys like me, recreational players who can't be bothered to train to proper fighting weight.

Please enlighten me about how being smaller is an advantage in striking arts, so i can feel incredibly great about my skinny-ness

Tend to find (on average) the fighters who are lighter tend to be a bit nippier, and the reduced frame size means less of them to move out of the way of incoming strikes.

Could just be my experiences but it's something I've definitely noticed. We also have a lady whose very short and thin, but she's a lot quicker than most of us and I've found many a time from her boxing background when doing K-1 if I'm not careful with my swings she'll get completely under my arms and hit me before I've even retracted my arms.

Depends on the judo tournaments. There often aren't enough guys for higher categories, so above 90 you are basically fighting open and can run into some huge people. -81 and -73 generally have the most people and a lot of them are very serious. So if you want the highest quality, highest number of opponents then try to get to 81 kg. If you feel like challenging your waza against a fat green belt, stay above 90. Locally, -90 usually has guys like me, recreational players who can't be bothered to train to proper fighting weight.

found this in my first tournament when they changed my meds to one with weight gain side effects, I ballooned up to 99 k and then my 5'9 ass what fighting a 6'5 brick shithouse who was basically final fight's abigail in a gi.

Well I've always wrestled heavy weight, and was always at the bottom of the weight class. Personally I found that I could leverage my increased speed and athleticism against my heavier opponents. It worked really well for me. Being on the upper end can also cost you, ask Chris Taylor, who lost two Olympic matches in '72 because the referees felt sorry for his smaller opponents and so gave them calls that they should not have gotten. One of the refs even admitted to it.